Software defined visibility fabric

A method of creating a network, comprising:

• accessing a non-transitory medium storing information regarding a plurality of nodes, the information indicating characteristics that represent packet processing efficiency and packet processing intelligence for each of the nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes includes a first node and a second node, and the characteristics indicate that the first node is at a first level of a hierarchy of packet processing intelligence and at a second level of a hierarchy of packet processing efficiency, the second node is at a second level of the hierarchy of packet processing intelligence and at a first level of the hierarchy of packet processing efficiency, the first level of the hierarchy of packet processing intelligence corresponding to more processing complexity than the second level of the hierarchy of packet processing intelligence, and the first level of the hierarchy of packet processing efficiency corresponding to lower resource usage than the second level of the hierarchy of packet processing efficiency;
• and
• creating a service chain that includes at least some of the plurality of nodes using a processing unit, wherein the processing unit includes a service chain creation module configured to create virtual links to connect the some of the plurality of nodes to create a service chain based on the information indicating the characteristics that represent packet processing efficiency and packet processing intelligence for each of the nodes;
• wherein the some of the plurality of nodes represent respective network components of an auxiliary network configured to obtain packets from a traffic production network;
• and
• wherein the service chain is configured to control an order of the network components represented by the some of the plurality of nodes packets are to traverse.

An apparatus having a non-transitory medium storing a set of instruction, an execution of which by a processing unit causes a method to be performed, the method comprising:

• accessing a database storing information regarding a plurality of nodes, the information indicating characteristics that represent packet processing efficiency and packet processing intelligence for each of the nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the plurality of nodes includes a first node and a second node, and the characteristics indicate that the first node is at a first level of a hierarchy of packet processing intelligence and at a second level of a hierarchy of packet processing efficiency, the second node is at a second level of the hierarchy of packet processing intelligence and at a first level of the hierarchy of packet processing efficiency, the first level of the hierarchy of packet processing intelligence corresponding to more processing complexity than the second level of the hierarchy of packet processing intelligence, and the first level of the hierarchy of packet processing efficiency corresponding to lower resource usage than the second level of the hierarchy of packet processing efficiency;
• and
• creating a service chain that includes at least some of the plurality of nodes, wherein the act of creating the service chain comprises creating virtual links to connect the some of the plurality of nodes based on the information indicating the characteristics that represent packet processing efficiency and packet processing intelligence for each of the nodes;
• wherein the some of the plurality of nodes represent respective network components of an auxiliary network configured to obtain packets from a traffic production network;
• and
• wherein the service chain is configured to control an order of the network components represented by the some of the plurality of nodes packets are to traverse.